 Marks and Spencer (M&S) announced that it will offer its online international delivery service to a further 73 countries, reaching out to an additional 5.5 million British expatriates and overseas customers.
Launched 11 months ago, the service was initially trialled in France, Germany, Spain, Australia, New Zealand, the United States and Canada. It will now be available from Albania to Vietnam and include such major markets as China, Japan and South Africa.
Director of M&S Direct Dave Hughes says: “The M&S brand is synonymous with quality – and something welcomed by expats and international shoppers alike.
“With the international delivery infrastructure already in place, it’s been a relatively seamless next step to branch out to virtually the rest of the world. It gives us the flexibility to respond to the many customer requests we’ve been getting to take marksandspencer.com global.”
The service has seen an item shipped overseas every two minutes, and enough underpants sold to cover the modesty of every citizen in Liechtenstein or Monaco, both now eligible for the online service.
Figures show that French shoppers are keenest on M&S underwear, with sales of Magic Knickers stronger in France than anywhere else outside of the UK.
Australia is hot on the heels of France, with pants there being delivered to the furthest corners of the country, from the Daintree Rainforest to the Western Australia goldfields.
Incidentally, ladies’ lingerie is a best-selling item online in all international locations, with the exception of the US where men’s underwear comes up trumps.
Generally, more orders are being dispatched to France than any other nation.
Bedding is selling strongly in France, as it is in Spain, reflecting the large British expatriate communities and demand for quality bed and bathroom linen.
Ladies’ shirts and blouses also feature in the European top three, while school uniforms continue to be the strongest selling item in Germany.
In addition to its international delivery service, M&S has introduced an online personalised card service, Wine Plan, 3,000 premium white goods and developed the ‘M&S for Business’ corporate gifting service; all part of its commitment to grow sales of M&S Direct to £500m by 2010/11. |